Monday, August 13, 2007

On Wednesday, August 8th 2007, Albany Oregon resident, and local racer Jay Hewett, showed up for Wednesday practice at Albany Motocross Park, just like he had plenty of times before. Sadly, Jay laid his bike down, after a small hill, and a rider on a quad came over the top of that hill and hit Jay. A local firefighter took Jay to the Salem Hospital, where he died early that next morning. Jay will be missed by everyone, and all of our prayers go to his family and friends. Sunday during practice at Albany, there was a memorial lap held for Jay, that I got to take part in. It was a very moving experience for me, and taught me how fast life can be taken away.

Once the lap was over and I rode back to my pickup truck, my emotions started to change. It seems so unfair that Jay had to lose his life, because someone had to take their stupid couch with wheels to a motocross track. Quads just don’t belong there. Period! Why should everyone else on the track be in danger just because you aren’t good enough to ride a dirt bike like the rest of us? If you want to ride a quad, great, just keep it in the sand or on the trails, not on a motocross track.